New Jersey DEP: These 107 Wildlife Species Are Facing Big Threats

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is poised to make the first major revision to its State Wildlife Action Plan in more than 10 years. And according to DEP officials - when the dust has cleared - there will be 107 wildlife species that the state will focus its conservation efforts on in the coming decade.

On Monday, DEP officials announced that the agency’s Division of Fish and Wildlife is seeking public comment on a major revision of the State Wildlife Action Plan, a blueprint that helps to guide wildlife conservation decisions and efforts in New Jersey. The revision will be the first reworking of New Jersey’s plan since 2006.

The public review and comment period will remain open until Jan. 19, 2018. The plan will then be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in early 2018.

To view or download the draft State Wildlife Action Plan and submit comments, click here.

To make the plan “more focused,” the plan will pick 107 species from a list of 656 “species of greatest conservation need.” State agencies will then target these 107 species for special actions such as habitat identification and management, and research efforts.

The list includes bird species such as American woodcock, northern harrier, piping plover, cerulean warbler, and peregrine falcon; fish species such as brook trout, shortnose sturgeon, Atlantic sturgeon, and ironcolor shiner; reptile and amphibian species such as the northern scarlet snake, bog turtle, New Jersey chorus frog, and northern diamondback terrapin; mammals such as the little brown bat, Indiana bat, and Allegheny woodrat; and invertebrates such as yellow lamp mussel, American bumble bee, and pink sallow moth. (See the full list below)

“It is not being suggested, nor should it be implied, that the state’s conservation interests are limited to these species,” the DEP stated. “The SWAP Executive Committee, a group composed primarily of conservation partners, simply believed that this more focused approach to planning and conservation would yield greater conservation results.”

• See related article: This Bumblebee Once Flourished In New Jersey, Now It's Endangered

“The State Wildlife Action Plan will guide DEP’s work and that of New Jersey’s very active conservation community in protecting our most vulnerable wildlife, ensuring that our great diversity of species can be enjoyed by future generations,” DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said. “We look forward to gathering valuable input from the public and conservation organizations across the state as we work together to develop the best plan possible.”

See the full list of “New Jersey's 107 Upper Tier Priority Species of Greatest Conservation Need” below, via the DEP.

BIRDS

American Oystercatcher

American Woodcock

Black Rail

Black Skimmer

Blue-winged Warbler

Bobolink

Cattle Egret

Cerulean Warbler

Common Tern

Eastern Meadowlark

Forster's Tern

Golden-winged Warbler

Grasshopper Sparrow

Kentucky Warbler

Least Tern

Little Blue Heron

Northern Bobwhite

Northern Harrier

Peregrine Falcon

Pied-billed Grebe

Piping Plover

Prothonotary Warbler

Red Knot

Red-headed Woodpecker

Ruddy Turnstone

Scarlet Tanager

Snowy Egret

Tricolored Heron

Vesper Sparrow

Wood Thrush

FISH

Banded Sunfish

Blackbanded Sunfish

Bridle Shiner

Comely Shiner

Ironcolor Shiner

Mud Sunfish

Swamp Darter

Alewife

Atlantic Sturgeon

Blueback Herring

Shortnose Sturgeon

INVERTEBRATES

American Bumble Bee

Ashton Cuckoo Bumble Bee

Rusty Patched Bumble Bee

Southern Plains Bumble Bee

Variable Cuckoo Bumble Bee

Yellow Bumble Bee

Yellow-banded Bumble Bee

Arogos Skipper

Dotted Skipper

Frosted Elfin

Georgia Satyr

Hoary Elfin

Leonard's Skipper

Northern Metalmark

A Notodontid Moth (H. varia)

Buchholz'a Gray

Buchholz's Dart Moth

Carter's Noctuid Moth

Daecke's Pyralid Moth

Maritime Sunflower Borer Moth

Papaipema harrisii

Pink Sallow

Sand Myrtle Looper/Pink

Brook Floater

Dwarf Wedgemussel

Eastern Lampmussel

Green Floater

Triangle Floater

Yellow Lampmussel

New England Bluet

Pine Barrens Bluet

Robust Baskettail

Scarlet Bluet

Septima's Clubtail

Superb Jewelwing

Little White Tiger Beetle

New Jersey Pine Barrens Tiger Beetle

Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle

Southeastern Beach Tiger Beetle

MAMMALS

North Atlantic Right Whale

Allegheny Woodrat

Indiana Bat

Little Brown Bat

Northern Myotis

REPTILES/AMPHIBIANS

Carpenter Frog

Eastern Spadefoot

Eastern Tiger Salamander

Longtail Salamander

NJ Chorus Frog

Northern Red Salamander

Pine Barrens Treefrog

Atlantic Green Turtle

Atlantic Leatherback

Atlantic Loggerhead

Atlantic Ridley

Bog Turtle

Corn Snake

Eastern Box Turtle

Eastern Hognose Snake

Eastern Redbelly Turtle

Northern Black Racer

Northern Diamondback Terrapin

Northern Pine Snake

Northern Scarlet Snake

Timber Rattlesnake

Wood Turtle

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Main Photo: New Jersey chorus frog (Brian Zarate via DEP)

Graphic: NJDEP